Coronado.

There are a few things I have come to love about summer's in arizona. I love summer monsoons. and i love summer vacations to California.

We usually have 2 California vacations each summer. One with the Gurrs to Coronado. And one with the Connolly's to Newport.

Ever since my first trip to Coronado with Gurr's. I was in love. in love with the weather. in love with the adorable homes. in love with the tree lined streets. in love with the ocean. in love with the food. and always, in love with the company.

There are certain activities we have found, to be among our favorites. Little traditions that must be done while we are there. Or heaven forbid, it will not feel like a fulfilled vacation. here are a few of those things...

Fireworks. Our favorite thing is to be in Coronado over the 4th. Yes, along with the millions of other people. Its crazy, but there is something so magical about fireworks on the island. I think its mostly due to the fact that we can sit out and actually enjoy them in the 60 degree weather. We can also usually see 3 to 4 sets of fireworks where we sit. its like our own personal surround sound fireworks show.

I can't think of anything more american and more patriotic than an old navy flag tee.

The next thing we love to do is go to the beach.

I'm a beach girl. always have been. always will be. I can't tell you how incredibly happy it makes me to have a son who enjoys the beach. I think he loves it just about as much as I do.

Benson is all about jumping right now. He thinks it's so cool. it is pretty cool. until he starts to twirl and then its just embarrassing.

One thing I love about Coronado beach is seeing all of the sand dollars appear in the late afternoon. If you have never seen a live one here is what they look like. they are a beautiful dark red and purple color. 

We always take one day and take a trip to Ghirardelli's. We walk from home to the ferry, where we ride a ferry from Coronado Island to San Diego, and then we walk to Ghirardelli's. We use the walking as a sort of justification for the things we eat once we get to Ghirardelli's. Things like chocolates, ice cream, milkshakes and sundaes.

and if you couldn't tell...

benson LOVES ice cream.

Another one of our favorite things to do in Coronado is EAT! Miguel's being one of our favorites. The chips, salsa, and jalapeno cream sauce always keep us coming back for more.

One of the things i love about Coronado. Is walking. We literally park our car and dont touch it until we leave the next week. Morning walks and afternoon bike rides are a must every...day.

 The kids brought their razors. Benson is now obsessed. I am amazed at how well he can ride on two wheels.

 A trip to the Coronado Candy Factory is a must. 

This was Benson's first trip to a candy store so you could only imagine how much he loved it.

I managed to sneak in a few sour belts and gummy worms for myself but ended up having to share them in the end.

I think the funnest part of vacation happens when the sun goes down. the rice krispy treats come out. and we gather around on the patio to talk and play games. One night was set apart strictly for the 1st annual Gurr Family Minute to Win it game night. And oh what a night it turned out to be. Throughout the games there was laughter. lots of laughter. tears to the eyes, knee slapping laughter. We witnessed family members move their bodies like we have never seen before. 

Oh and did I mention i dominated most of the games and won the grand prize.

Besides a million pictures, we also had alot of video footage from the week. Bryce was able to take 120 minutes of footage and squeeze it into a 4 minute video which summarizes our awesome vacation with the Gurr Family. I sure am grateful for my amazing inlaws and the fun memories that were made this year.

You can check out the video below..

sometimes. when you're this cute. you can't escape my camera. not even in the bathtub.

hair.

For most of my life there has not been an emotional side to hair. Its always just been there. in its pony. where it belongs. I used to think it was funny to hear of girls who cry over their hair...whether it was a dramatic cut, bad cut, wrong color, etc. I have never experienced that emotion.. until it came time to cut little Benson's hair. I thought i had mentally prepared myself for monday night. But it hurt. alot more than I thought it would. I loved his long hair. Don't get me wrong he is still a stud with his haircut. But i will be missin those long locks. Im already looking forward to seeing it grow. watching it day by day. until it is back where it belongs. long. long enough to fit into a pony. just like moms.

we were able to get in a quick morning session before his hair cut. 

 do you even recognize this boy?

camping with the gurrs.

One of the things that me and bryce and our friends loved to do in high school was go camping. It seemed like we were always heading up to Payson, Sycamore, or Bushnell whenever we got the chance. Which is why I am so shocked that we havent taken Benson as much as we have. Ok maybe i know why, because its a TON of work. Even for an overnighter, we had the whole truck full. Its alot of work setting up a tent and getting it ready for the night. A night in which i usually only sleep a total of two hours. And then we have to take the tent down and pack everything away the next day. yea, alot of work. But there are certain things that I LOVE about camping. Things that make all the hard work worth it.

Here are a few of those things..

I love being in nature. i love everything about it. the sounds. the smells. watching the pine trees move in the wind, there's nothing better.

I love camping with family. Bryce's whole family was able to be there except Blake, who is serving a mission in California.

I love camping with my little family.

I love our camping spot. hidden in its own little valley of pine trees. It was our favorite spot in high school to camp.

I love camping with Benson. I love how happy this boy is when he is in the outdoors. 

I love not caring about how dirty he gets

I love how we don't have to bring toys with us because benson loves flowers and other natural things...like oreos.

I love it when you can't tell whats a boo boo, whats dirt, and whats food.

I love having cousins there to play with Benson

i love pinecones. I feel like camping isn't camping without pine trees.

I love our Weather Master 10. Yes, this is our ten person tent for our little family of three. It's the best thing that ever happened to our camping experience. Its got plenty of room for our double high air mattress, side table, and benson even has his own room.

I love cooking when we camp. Well, Bryce loves cooking when we camp. Its probably the thing we love to do most. I'm not sure why but everything tastes better when you're camping. Friday night we had steaks and every vegetable you could imagine. And saturday Loran made home made Arizona Burritos (Fili-B fans know what i'm talking about).

I love nighttime. I love getting bundled up, sitting and visiting with family.

I love flashlights, that can make messages for Blake who was not with us.

and I love the millions of stars that can't be seen in the city.

Yea, i think this camping trip was worth all of the work.

moments.

I think normal women have these moments when they hold a newborn baby. That feeling you get. deep down. That feeling of wanting another child. of wanting a sibling for your kid. that feeling of wanting another spirit in your home. I had a few of these moments this week, but not in your normal way.

One moment came while I was doing something I do almost everyday lately. I was editing pics from one of my shoots. I can usually get into a groove with editing. This picture threw off my groove completely. I opened it, ready to edit, and all I could do was just stare at it. Touched by the single act of the little one's hand on his older brothers. I can remember when I took this shot, they got into this stance naturally. This stance thats states, we are brothers and we look out for each other.

Another moment came when our friends came over to play this week. i cant help but admire these boys. They act like brothers. they play like brothers. they talk about being brothers. And when they are over, they treat bens just like a brother. They always tell him "someday benson you can be five like me and then you can be a big brother." I can't help but smile when Benson plays with them. He will literally try and do everything that they do. When they eat lunch at the table, bens has to eat lunch at the table. Heaven forbid he gets seen eating in the highchair when his friends are over, how embarrassing. When they play the wii, Benson has to "play" the wii. I crack up just watching their facial expressions, and watching Bens try to imitate. Its moments like this that make me ache for a sibling for Benson.

And then there's moments like Sunday, when we all slept in until 9. And then I think, I'm liking our little family of three.

the farm

Us girls are always looking for new spots to have lunch besides the normal Paradise or Costa Vida. Jess came across this little gem called The Farm. There is actually three different restaurants in this little area. one for breakfast. one for lunch. and one for dinner. If the breakfast and dinner restaurants are as good as lunch then we will be visiting again real soon. But lunch was a little pricey, so maybe not as soon as we would like. But this place was gorgeous. They have groves of trees where you can sit at picnic tables and eat while your kids run around. And our lunches came in cute little picnic baskets. I wish I would have taken a picture of the sandwich I had but i'm afraid I ate it too fast. 

My favorite part of this place was letting the kids run and explore while us girls visited. Of course, Bens is still the only boy in the group, but I dont think he minds that too much.

Him and Miss P seemed to be getting along quite comfortably on the fence.

Group pictures are always difficult, especially with children. If Bens had realized that Peighton was a nose picker, i dont think he would have been smoochen on her earlier.